Automatic shoe rest and support



May 26, 1953 1 M MCCORMICK 2,639,457

- AUTOMATIC SHOE REST AND SUPPORT Filed Jan. 50, 1950 Patented May 26, 1953 AUTOMATIC SHOE REST AND SUPPORT Michael McCormick, New York, N. Y., assignor of one-half to George Candler, New York, N. Y.

Application January 30, 1950, Serial No. 141,287 1 Claim. (01. 15-465) This invention relates to shoe rests and stands, for supporting the shoe while the same is being shined or otherwise worked upon.

An object of the invention is to provide a shoe rest which is adapted to conform to the shoe Worn on the foot, so as to support the same in a manner which is comfortable and convenient for the customer whose shoe is being shined.

Another object of the invention is to provide a shoe rest and support which includes a top plate carried in a support, and adapted to provide a rest surface for the lower portion of the shoe, the parts being so constructed and arranged to conform with any movements of the shoe while in contact with the top plate.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved shoe shine rest and support, which is so constructed and arranged that the bootblack may reach and see all surfaces of the shoe which he is shining or working upon, by merely grasping the shoe lightly and turning it, without dislodging the shoe from the shoe shine rest, and with a maximum of comfort for the customer, and convenience for the bootblack, enabling him to do a vastly improved job of shoe shining.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved shoe shine rest and support including a top plate engageable with the sole of the shoe of the customer, and having a rearward edge surface adapted to provide a bearing surface for the forward edge of the heel of the customers shoe, all other heel surfaces of the shoe being entirely free from engagement with the shoe shine rest and support, providing a very firm engagement of the shoe with the shoe shine support and one which is not dependent in any manner for its efficacy or security upon any predetermined thickness of the heel of the shoe, adequate engagement being secured no matter what the heel thickness is.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved shoe shine rest and support, which is simple in design, inexpensive to manufacture, effective in use, and which is adaptable for use in connection with shoe shine facilities of all types, both portable and stationary, and may be employed singly, or in pairs, or in any desired combination.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following descrip tion of a preferred embodiment thereof as ilius trated in the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, and in which,

Figure 1 is a side elevational view showing one of my improved and novel shoe rests and supports in supporting engagement with the shoe of a customer.

Figure 2 is a front elevational view of the novel and improved shoe rest as seen from the left of Figure 1, the shoe itself being omitted from this view, the base being also omitted in its larger portions.

Figure 3 is a sectional elevation taken on plane 3-3 of Figure 2, the shoe engaging element being sectioned only in part, for clarity of illustration.

Figure 4 is a sectional plan View taken on plane 4-4 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a top plan view, of the device shown in Figure 3, the outline of the sole and heel of the shoe to be supported thereon being shown in broken lines.

With the ordinary shoe shine stand, it is necessary to conform the foot encased in the shoe, to the stand, which is quite rigid. If the customer sits down upon the seat of a non-portable shoe shine stand, and places both feet and shoes upon a pair of side by side shoe rests, it is soon discovered by the customer and the bootblack both, that the arrangement is not comfortable for the customer, and is not convenient for the bootblack, so that he cannot do his best work. The customer finds that he cannot turn his feet but must keep them rigidly in a forwardly pointed direction. He must also exert not only forward pressure to keep his shoes in engagement with the shoe rest, but finds that, due to the presence of the shallow heel support portion of the shoe rest, any pronounced forward push or pressure by the foot will immediately cause the shoe to slip forwardly and off the shoe rest, interrupting the work of the bootblack and being accompanied by the danger of getting some shoe polish or coloring upon the socks or the trouser cuffs if this happens while the polish is being applied to the shoe.

The bootblack frequently finds it necessary to grasp the shoe firmly with his hand, to keep it on the shoe rest, and cannot do his work prop erly or quickly. Where the customer is wearing shoes having thick heels, which is quite common, the problem is even worse, since they are kept elevated by the shallow heel support portions of prior art shoe rests and slip out of engagement quite easily. In addition, the bootblack cannot turn the shoe in order to work on the rear side portions thereof, and to see his work.

All these and many other well known disadvantages of existing shoe rests and supports are avoided by my novel and improved device as disclosed herein. In order to understand clearly the nature of the invention, and the best means for carrying it out, reference may now be had to the drawings, in which like numerals denote similar parts throughout the several views.

As shown, there is a base In which may be of any well known type, such as a shoe shine box of the portable typ 01 the massive base commonly employed in stationary or non-portable types of shoe shine stands, where the base I6 may also and commonly does have a chair or seat for use by the customer while he places his foot l2 disposed inside the shoe l4, upon the shoe rest to be shined or cleaned. The base In may have an upward projecting portion 16 secured thereto, the side walls of which may converge upwardly as at I8 for supporting the top wall 20 thereof. The member [6 may also be termed a pedestal.

A shoe rest base member 22 has a circular flange 24, which is adapted to be secured to the upper surface 20 of the pedestal l6 by means of screws or bolts 26 penetrating the flange 24 and engaging openings 28 in the wall 20, which are in registry with corresponding bores 30 in the flange 24. While the flange 24 is shown as substantially circular, it will be understood that I do not desire to be confined to that shape, and that other well known shapes may be employed.

A base extension or pin housing 34 extends upwardly from the base flange 24, being preferably integral therewith as illustrated. The base extension 34 has a bore 36 extending therethrough and through the base flange 24, as seen best in Figures 2 and 3, and it will be observed that whereas the axis of the bore 36 seems to be vertical as seen in Figure 2, it is actually inclined or canted from the vertical as seen best in Figure 3, the inclination being thus toward the right as seen in Figures 1 and 3, that is to say, toward the customer.

The angle of inclination is selected for the purpose of opposing or countering the leftward thrust by the customer of his foot as seen in Figure 1, to bring the resultant substantially within the base 24, to avoid tipping over of the device where the main base I is a portable shoe shine box, and to avoid loosening the screws 26 due to excessive forward thrust by the customer in the event the base It is a stationary type. The upward extension 34 may be cylindrical in contour and it is also canted in the manner shown, so that its bore 36 is coaxial within the member 34. The upper end surface 40 of the extension 34 lies in' a plane which is substantiallyperpendicular to the axis of the bore or socket 36, and provides a bearing surface for the annular washer 42 which rests thereon and has an axial opening 44 in registry with thebore 36. v

The washer 42, which is preferred for use when the member 34 is made of soft metal, may be made of suitable material such as hard rubber,

plastic, fibre, Or even some forms of metal, and- The U-shaped turnable frame member 44 has a pair of upstanding side Walls 46 and 48, interconnected at their lower ends by the web 50. The walls 46 and 48 should have some inherent resiliency, so that they tend to spring inwards toward each other, so as to more firmly grip between them the depending central flange 52 of the shoe support rest member 54 when disposed therebetween in the manner of Figure 2. A support shaft 56 integral with the U-shaped frame member web 50, depends therefrom and is inserted into the socket bore 36 for rotation therein. The axis of the shaft 56 is thus perpendicular to the plane of the web 50, substantially. It will be found suitable if the shaft 56 and the frame member 44 are both made of steel, although other metals having the desirable characteristics thereof may also be used. The shaft 56 may also be a separate member, secured to the web 50 in any suitable manner, as by penetration thereof and peining its upper end over, or by welding.

A bolt 60 penetrates aligned openings formed in the walls 46 and 48, and the intervening flange 52 of the member 54, being secured in position by means of the bolt head 62 or nut threaded thereon. The thickness of the central flange 52 may be reduced locally as at 66 and 68, if desired,

ported on the upper edge of the flange 52 andintegral therewith is the shoe rest plate 10, which has its upper surface 12 preferably curved slightly as shown, to conform to the contour of the bottom surface of the sole 14 of the shoe [4.

The curvature of the surface 12 is shown somewhat exaggerated, for clarity of illustration, it

being understood that any desired degree of cur-- vature contour thereof may be formed into the surface 12. The shoe rest plate 10 has its side edges also rounded smoothly, as at 16, and its forward end 80, and also on side 18. It will be noted that I prefer to make the area of the plate 18 when viewed in plan, as in Figure 5, substantially smaller than the usual shoe I4 to be supported therein, and in any event, it is preferable that it not be larger than the sole of the shoe, which is indicated in dotted lines at 82 in Figure 5.

Upon the upper surface 12 of the shoe support plate it will be noted that there are a series of holes 84 which penetrate the plate right through its thickness from top to bottom, the holes being near the marginal edges of the plate. These holes are of importance, since they perform several functions, such as providing friction regardless of how worn or polished the top surface of the plate becomes in the course of use, and also allow dirt particles to fall therein and therethrough, to avoid scoring the plate under pressure from the shoe.

The rearward edge 88 of the shoe rest plate is slightly curved as viewed in plan, as in Figure 5, to conform somewhat to the curvature of the abutting forward edge 90 of the heel 92 of the shoe [4, so that the heel 92 bears firmly against this edge 88 of the shoe rest plate. It is seen that the shoe is firmly engaged in this manner with the plate 10, by only very slight forward pressure by the foot of the customer toward the left as seen in Figure 1. The thickness of the heel 92 of the shoe has no effect whatever on the secure engagement since the heel can hang downwards as shown in Figure 1,

the surface 88 of the plate engagingthe corner between the rear portion of the sole of the shoe and the leading edge of the heel.

Further it will be noted that the customer can turn his foot about the axis of the shaft 56, in the directions indicated by arrow 98 in Figure 5, and can tilt his foot about the axis of the shaft 60, as indicated by the arrow I00 in Figure 3, so that his foot is supported for universal motion. Regardless of the angle assumed by his foot, this shoe [4 is securely engaged by the plate 10, and will not be dislodged therefrom until so desired.

It is apparent that the thickness of the spacer member 42 can be increased as desired, so that the elevation of the member 18 is adjustable. In fact, by suitably increasing the length of the shaft 56, and increasing the axial length of the member 12 substantially, a very substantial elevation in the location of the member 16 is possible, as when shining the shoes of shorter persons, or of children.

Although I have described my invention in specific terms, it will be understood that various changes may be made in size, shape, curvature, contour, materials and arrangement without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

I claim:

A shoe rest and support device comprising a platform, a main base member disposed on said platform, means securing said main base member to said platform, an upstanding extension member carried by said main base member, and having formed therein a socket bore angularly inclined relative to the vertical, said upstanding extension member having an upper surface upon which said socket bore opens, and lying in a plane substantially at right angles to the axis of said socket bore, spacer means carried on the said upper surface of said upstanding extension member and having an aperture overlying and in registry with said socket bore, a web member carried by said spacer means, pin shaft means carried by said web member and depending therefrom through said aperture in said spacer means and extending rotatably into said socket bore means, being movable with said web member about the axis of said socket bore, a plurality of upstanding spaced walls carried by said web member, a depending flange member extending downwards between said plurality of upstanding spaced walls, said spaced walls being constructed and arranged of resilient material and normally spaced apart a distance less than the Width of said flange member so as to resiliently embrace each side of said depending flange member, second shaft 'means penetrating said depending flange member and said spaced walls resiliently embracing the same, and shoe sole support plate means carried by said depending flange member and constructed and arranged and curved to engage with the lower surface of a shoe sole of a shoe, and heel engaging means carried at the rearward end of said shoe sole support plate means and constructed and arranged for engagement with the leading edge of the heel of said shoe, and constructed and arranged so as to avoid engagement with any other surface of said heel, the engagement of said heel engaging means being identical regardless of the thickness of heel of said shoe.

' MICHAEL MCCORMICK.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 253,100 Rees Jan. 31, 1882 725,746 Polson Apr. 28, 1903 773,432 Speer Oct. 25, 1904 792,150 Morton June 13, 1905 974,585 Minato Nov. 1, 1910 1,110,384 Gaggins Sept. 15, 1914 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 74,136 Germany Apr. 2, 1894 

